The European Central Bank is cutting interest rates by a quarter percentage point amid signs of weakening growth and concern about the impact of political chaos in France and the possibility of new U.S. import tariffs.

The European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the 20 countries that use the euro currency, is not expecting the bloc to fall into recession as it cut borrowing costs once again after figures showed inflation across the bloc falling to its lowest level in more than three years and economic growth waning.

With inflation subsiding, the European Central Bank is cutting its benchmark interest rate to prop up tepid growth with lower borrowing costs for companies and home buyers.

The European Central Bank left its key interest rate benchmark unchanged Thursday as its rate-setting council and President Christine Lagarde take their time to make sure stubborn inflation is firmly under control before lowering rates again.

Inflation is on the way down in Europe.

The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point, moving ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve as central banks around the world lean toward lowering borrowing costs — a shift with far-reaching consequences for home buyers, savers and investors.

The European Central Bank has opened the door for an interest rate cut as early as its June meeting.

The European Central Bank has left its key interest rate at a record high even though inflation is way down from its painful double-digit peak and the economy has stalled.

The European Central Bank has kept its key interest rate unchanged at a record high.

European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde says cutting interest rates too soon could threaten Europe’s progress in battling the inflation that has ravaged the economy.

The European Central Bank has decided to keep its key interest rate at a record high and will leave it there as long as needed to battle back inflation.

The European Central Bank has taken a break from interest rate increases.

The head of the European Central Bank says interest rates will stay high long enough to restrict business activity for “as long as necessary” to beat back inflation because upward pressure on prices “remains strong.”.

The European Central Bank has hiked its key interest rate to a record high.

Interest rates in the European Union will need to stay high “as long as necessary” to slow still-high inflation, Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said Friday.

The European Central Bank has raised interest rates for the ninth straight time in its yearlong campaign to stamp out painfully high inflation.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is warning that inflation is holding its grip on the economy.

The European Central Bank has pressed ahead with another interest rate hike and is making clear more are on the way.

European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde says inflation pressures are “strong."

Proposals for a digital European currency are taking shape.

Financial leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies are focusing on ways to fortify ever more complicated financial systems and supply chains during meetings in Japan ahead of a summit next week.

The European Central Bank has slowed the pace of its interest rate increases, stepping back like the U.S. Federal Reserve from a string of jumbo hikes aimed at snuffing out inflation.

The fragmentation of the world economy into rival blocs led by the United States and China threatens to destabilize global commerce, increase inflation and weaken growth, Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, warned Monday.

European Union leaders are playing down the risk of a banking crisis developing from recent global financial turmoil and hitting an already weak economy.

European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde says future interest rate decisions are open after upheaval in the global banking system has left the economic outlook more uncertain.

The European Central Bank has carried through with a large interest rate increase, brushing aside predictions it might dial back as U.S. bank collapses and troubles at Credit Suisse feed fears about the impact of higher rates on the global banking system.

The European Central Bank has hiked interest rates by another half-point and vows a similar hike at its next meeting.

Asian stock markets are higher after Wall Street losses deepened as worries grow that the U.S. economy is headed for recession.

The European Central Bank has slowed its record pace of interest rate increases.

The head of the European Central Bank says she doesn't believe inflation has peaked after reaching the highest levels on record.

The European Central Bank has made another outsized interest rate hike aimed at squelching out-of-control inflation, moving at the fastest pace in the euro currency’s history.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that stablecoins will need greater regulation as they become more widely used by consumers.

The head of the European Central Bank says the economic outlook “is darkening” and she expects business activity to “slow substantially” in the coming months as high energy and food prices pushed up by the war in Ukraine sap consumer spending power.

The European Central Bank has made its largest-ever interest rate increase to combat record inflation that is squeezing consumers and pushing the 19 countries that use the euro currency toward recession.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the U.S. economy is slowing but pointed to healthy hiring as proof that it is not yet in recession.

The European Central Bank has raised interest rates for the first time in 11 years by a larger-than-expected amount.

Italy's political turmoil is making life harder for the European Central Bank as it hikes interest rates and raising bad memories of the eurozone debt crisis a decade ago.

The European Central Bank says its president, Christine Lagarde, was targeted in a hacking attempt but no information was compromised.

Inflation in countries using the euro set another eye-watering record, pushed higher by a huge increase in energy costs fueled partly by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said there’s “no guarantee″ the central bank can tame runaway inflation without hurting the job market.

The head of the European Central Bank says it will move gradually to combat soaring consumer prices with interest rate hikes in July and September but will keep its options open to “stamp out” inflation if it surges faster than expected.

Global stocks are mostly higher after a wobbly day on Wall Street as markets cooled off following a rare winning week.

European Union leaders are discussing their response to the severe economic turbulence looming over the coming months as the full impact of Russia’s war sinks in and the threat of recession rises.

The European Central Bank has vowed to come up with a new, unspecified market backstop that could be used to buffer some countries against bond market turmoil similar to what shook the 19-country eurozone during a debt crisis more than a decade ago.

The European Central Bank will raise interest rates next month for the first time in 11 years, followed by another hike in September.

Shares are mostly lower in Asia, with only Shanghai rising, after stocks tumbled on Wall Street on expectations central banks will focus on battling inflation with interest rate hikes.

The president of the European Central Bank has given the clearest sign yet that policymakers will aim to raise interest rates as soon as July to ease surging inflation.

Asian shares have mostly retreated, tracking losses on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated increases in interest rates must be faster to fight inflation.

The Federal Reserve must move faster than it has in the past to rein in high inflation, Chair Jerome Powell said, signaling that sharp interest rate increases are likely in the coming months, beginning at the Fed’s next policy meeting in May.

The head of the European Central Bank says the bank would raise interest rates “some time after” ending its pandemic stimulus efforts later this year.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has tweeted that she tested positive for COVID-19 and has mild symptoms but will continue working at home.

The European Central Bank's president says no data currently suggests that Europe will fall into stagflation, which is a combination of high inflation, little or no economic growth and high unemployment.

European governments are slashing fuel taxes and doling out tens of billions to help consumers, truckers, farmers and others cope with spiking energy prices made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The European Central Bank says it will make an earlier exit from its economic stimulus program as it combats unexpectedly high inflation.

Asian shares are mostly higher as investors try to gauge U.S. inflation, tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the impact of the pandemic.

Asian stocks are higher after Wall Street rebounded as investors waited for U.S. inflation data that might influence the pace of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

The head of the European Central Bank says record inflation could linger for “longer than expected” and appeared to open the door at least a crack for an interest rate increase this year.

Inflation fed by high oil and gas prices hit record levels in Europe for the third month in a row.

Government and business leaders have urged global cooperation on climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and the economic recovery at the World Economic Forum’s virtual gathering this week.

Eurogroup finance chiefs are engaged in a high-wire political balancing act prompted by conflicting economic forces: a weaker growth outlook and stronger inflation.

This New Year's the European Central Bank is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the euro's notes and coins.

The United Kingdom’s central bank has become the first in a major advanced economy to raise interest rates since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The European Central Bank has decided not to abruptly pull back its pandemic support for the economy as the new omicron variant of COVID-19 stirs uncertainty about the continent’s recovery.

The head of the European Central Bank is doubling down on the message that it's no time to raise interest rates.

The European Central Bank has decided to keep its pandemic stimulus efforts unchanged even as consumer prices spike and central banks in other parts of the world look to dial back support as their economies bounce back from the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The head of Germany’s central bank has announced that he will step down after a decade at the helm.

The embattled head of the International Monetary Fund is pledging renewed efforts to bolster data integrity while focusing on the main job of helping countries recover from a devastating global pandemic.

The head of the International Monetary Fund says a report alleging she had a role in data-rigging at the World Bank when she was a top official there was not an accurate representation of events.

The European Union’s statistics agency says sharply higher oil and gas prices have helped push annual inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro to its highest in more than a decade.

European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde says Europe's monetary authority isn't about to “overreact” to temporary inflation by tightening policy.

Stocks ended an up-and-down day lower on Wall Street, giving the S&P 500 its fifth consecutive loss and its first weekly decline after two weeks of gains.

The European Central Bank says it is dialing back some of its massive emergency pandemic support for the economy.

Facing unease over the spread of a more-contagious variant of the coronavirus, the European Central Bank said it would maintain its stimulus in the form of ultra-low interest rates until inflation “durably” reaches its 2% target.

Asian stock markets have risen after Wall Street hit a high despite jitters about the spread of the coronavirus’s delta variant, as investors looked ahead to U.S. earnings reports.

Asian stocks have followed Wall Street higher ahead.

U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal for a global minimum corporate tax will get another going over at a meeting of top finance officials.

The European Central Bank is leaving its key pandemic support for the economy running full blast even as the economy shows signs of recovery thanks to lower virus cases and fewer restrictions on activity in the 19 countries that use the euro currency.

The European Central Bank is likely to say it's too early to withdraw its stimulus at its meeting on Thursday.

The European Central Bank is leaving its key stimulus programs unchanged with almost 900 billion euros of support still in the pipeline as the economy lags the U.S. and China in a drawn-out struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rise in the 10-year yield in recent weeks “caught my attention," Powell acknowledged earlier this month. AdIn anticipation of faster growth and inflation, investors have priced in at least three Fed rate hikes by 2023 — a much earlier lift-off than the Fed itself has forecast. Seeking to reassure investors, Fed officials have said they regard the rise in the 10-year yield as a positive sign, evidence that the financial markets expect the economy to steadily strengthen. As a consequence, Fed officials will likely boost their projections for economic growth for this year and for 2022, lower their estimates for unemployment and raise their expectations for inflation. Fed officials may project economic growth this year of as much as 5%, economists say, up from their December estimate of 4.2%.

The rise in longer-term borrowing rates is regarded as a spillover from the U.S., where the economic recovery is expected to be faster. By contrast, the eurozone economy is not expected to recover until mid-2022, held back by a slow vaccine rollout and lower levels of government relief spending compared with the U.S. ECB President Christine Lagarde told a news conference that the rise in market borrowing rates, “if left unchecked, could translate into a premature tightening of financial conditions for all sectors of the economy. AdThe bond purchases have the effect of pushing down bond yields, which are used as benchmarks for borrowing across the region. Lagarde didn't specify an amount for the accelerated bond purchases.

FRANKFURT – With more than a trillion euros in stimulus still in the pipeline to the economy, the European Central Bank left its key bond-purchase program unchanged Thursday as the 19-country eurozone endures a winter economic slowdown due to the pandemic. ECB President Christine Lagarde told a news conference that the economy likely contracted in the last three months of 2020 and the outlook going forward faces risks. The economy is being propped up by massive support from the ECB, national governments, and the EU. The European Union’s executive commission forecasts that the eurozone economy shrank 7.8% last year. Those are zero for short term loans from the ECB to banks, and minus 0.5% on deposits left overnight at the ECB by banks.

The 25-member governing council decided Thursday to increase its bond purchase stimulus by 500 billion euros, to 1.85 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion). The bond purchases help keep credit affordable and available across the economy for consumers, businesses and governments. That is critically important to help businesses survive until the pandemic eases, and to support governments that are borrowing heavily to pay for aid to businesses and workers. Governments have also marshalled support at the EU level by agreeing to borrow together to create a 750 billion-euro recovery fund. The deposit rate on money banks leave overnight at the ECB is minus 0.5% rate, a penalty that pushes them to lend the money instead.

The bank could add a half-trillion euros or more to its existing bond purchases. That means the central bank will vacuum up much of the new debt being issued by hard-pressed governments, lowering the risk of a new eurozone debt crisis. She subsequently pointed to the current, 1.35 trillion ($1.58 trillion) pandemic emergency bond purchase program as a likely place for action. Yet its borrowing costs remain low and markets are calm despite the pandemic, and analysts say ECB support plays a crucial role in that. Without ECB support, a debt crisis could loom.

FRANKFURT – Three of the globe's top central bankers said their economies continue to need help despite progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine, with U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell saying that the U.S. Congress “may need to do more” to cushion the blow from the pandemic. All three central banks have deployed large-scale stimulus such as interest rate cuts and bond purchases that aim to keep borrowing costs affordable for businesses. A multi-trillion-dollar stimulus, enacted in the spring, had helped sustain jobless Americans and ailing businesses but has since expired. “We’re recovering to a different economy,” he said, and there will be a substantial number of workers who will need support as the economy is changed by the pandemic. The Fed is buying $120 billion a month in bonds — $80 billion in Treasurys and $40 billion in mortgage bonds — to try to keep long-term borrowing costs low.

FRANKFURT – European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde warned Wednesday that the economy could face a “bumpy,” “stop-start” recovery despite good news about vaccine development. The European Commission has said it plans to secure up to 300 million doses of the experimental vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Lagarde said policymakers must ensure that the exceptional downturn remains a one-off blow to the economy and does not turn into a recession that feeds on itself. Analysts have been predicting more stimulus as a renewed increase in virus infections and partial lockdowns weigh on economic growth. Inflation was at minus 0.3% in October and continues to lag the ECB’s goal of below but close to 2%.

New Delhi reported 8,593 newly confirmed cases Thursday, up from 7,830 cases a day earlier as people crowd shopping areas ahead of Saturday’s observances of Diwali — an important Hindu festival of lights. The Delhi government projects that new coronavirus cases will be nearly 12,000 daily by the end of November. India’s infections overall continue came in at 47,905 new cases, a rise from 44,281 cases reported Wednesday. The daily death toll represented a more than 55% jump from Minnesota’s previous record of 36 deaths, reported on Friday. State health officials reported 1,039 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, and a daily positivity rate of more than 18% for the second consecutive day.

BRUSSELS – The European Union's executive commission on Thursday lowered its growth forecast for the economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic next year and said the economy wouldn’t reach pre-virus levels until 2023. The regular autumn forecast foresees the economy of the 19 countries that use the euro growing only 4.2% in 2021 instead of the previous estimate of 6.1%. The downgrade comes as governments record increasing numbers of infections, sick people in hospitals and deaths, leading to renewed restrictions on businesses and activity. Third-quarter GDP increased by 12.7% from the previous quarter, the largest increase since statistics started being kept in 1995. The European Central Bank is pumping 1.35 trillion euros ($1.58 trillion) into the economy through regular bond purchases, a step aimed at keeping credit flowing affordably to businesses.

New figures released Friday Oct. 30, 2020, show that the European economy grew by an unexpectedly large 12.7% in the third quarter as companies reopened after severe coronavirus lockdowns. Re-openings there led to strong third-quarter growth of 7.4% that recovered much of the drop from the first part of the year — but didn't dispel fears for the winter months. The European rebound, reflected in figures released Friday by EU statistics agency Eurostat, was the largest increase since statistics started being kept in 1995. It followed an 11.8% contraction in the second quarter in the 19 European Union member countries that use the euro currency. The rebound was led by France, with an enormous 18.2% increase, followed by Spain with 16.7% and Italy with 16.1%.

FRANKFURT – The European Central Bank held off from strengthening its current economic stimulus but its President Christine Lagarde said there was “little doubt” that more action would be coming at its December meeting as surging coronavirus infections and new restrictions on activity threaten Europe’s economy. “We have little doubt... that the circumstances will warrant the recalibration and the implementation of this recalibrated package," Lagarde said. Analysts believe that is one reason the bank could take no action Thursday, since there already more stimulus still in the pipeline. Massive ECB stimulus and new spending by governments has helped ward off turmoil on financial markets and cushion the downturn. Airlines, hotels, restaurants and other businesses big and small have suffered a devastating drop in activity.

FRANKFURT – The head of the European Central Bank says the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic “risks losing momentum” due to a second wave of infections and that more stimulus could be added if necessary. “Since the rebound we saw over the summer, the recovery has been uneven, uncertain and incomplete and now risks losing momentum,” she said, adding that “the options in our toolbox have not been exhausted. It's rate for short-term lending to banks is zero; for deposits left overnight from banks, the rate is negative 0.5 percent. The negative rate means banks pay a penalty for leaving money at the central bank instead of lending it to business. The ECB's steps are credited with helping keep the coronavirus outbreak from turning into a crisis for financial markets.

The central bank issued a comprehensive report outlining the reasons why it might need to take the step. It said no decision has been made, and that any digital euro would complement cash, not replace it. We should be prepared to issue a digital euro, should the need arise.”A digital euro would be different from current cashless payment systems run by the private sector because it would be official central bank money - trustable, risk-free and likely less expensive to use. A central bank digital currency could also be used offline, for instance, to transfer small amounts between individuals using digital wallets on their smartphones and a Bluetooth connection. China’s central bank is already testing an official digital currency, while the central bank of Sweden says it has initiated a pilot project.

Excluding volatile food and fuel prices, the inflation rate was 0.2% in September, down from 0.4% in August. The so-called core inflation figure is often considered the better measure of price movements in the economy as a whole. Rosie Colthorpe, European economist at Oxford Economics, pointed to temporary factors lowering inflation, such as a cut in value-added tax in Germany as part of that country's crisis stimulus. Economists say the pandemic is contributing to low inflation as merchants keep prices down in hopes of attracting customers amid restrictions on travel and activity. The ECB, based in Frankfurt, Germany, is the chief monetary authority for the EU member countries that use the euro.

FRANKFURT – The head of the European Central Bank says that the economy is rebounding but that the recovery remains uncertain, incomplete and dependent on containing the virus outbreak. But she added that “the strength of the recovery remains very uncertain, as well as uneven and incomplete.”“It continues to be highly dependent on the future evolution of the pandemic and the success of containment policies,” she said. The ECB is pumping 1.35 trillion euros ($1.6 trillion) in newly printed money into the economy through ongoing bond purchases through the end of next year. That is a large-scaled monetary stimulus aimed at preventing the pandemic from causing turmoil in financial markets, and at keeping borrowing costs low for companies to help support growth. The European Central Bank is the chief monetary authority for the 19 countries that use the euro, analogous to the Federal Reserve in the U.S. or the Bank of England in Britain.

FRANKFURT The European Central Bank left its key stimulus settings unchanged with almost a trillion euros (dollars) in stimulus still in the pipeline to bolster the eurozones rebound from the severe coronavirus shutdowns. The pause may only be a prelude to even more stimulus later this year as the ECB and global counterparts such as the US Federal Reserve make clear their determination to do maintain their massive support to limit the damage from the virus outbreak. The banks governing council made the decision at a meeting Thursday. Markets were waiting to hear ECB head Christine Lagardes outlook on possible threats to the economic rebound from a stronger euro, which can hurt exporters, and from weak inflation, which indicates weak demand. Many analyst think that the ECB will add to its pandemic emergency bond purchase stimulus at its December meeting, when it will have new inflation and growth forecasts.

A 0.2% annual drop in prices in August in the 19 countries that use the euro underlined that demand from unsettled consumers across the economy remains weak despite the reopening of many businesses. The economy plunged by a dizzying 11.8% in the second quarter from the first quarter. That means it doesnt represent outright deflation, a dreaded downward price spiral that can become a long-term trap for an economy. He expects a partial rebound in prices in the near term followed by a period of subdued inflation rather than a sustained fall in prices. He predicted the bank would raise the amount of pandemic stimulus purchases this year.

FRANKFURT The European Central Bank has left its monetary stimulus programs unchanged ahead of a key meeting of EU leaders on a recovery plan meant to help the economy bounce back from the coronavirus shutdowns. The ECB held off providing new measures Thursday after unleashing in recent weeks massive doses of monetary stimulus that have helped keep borrowing costs for companies and consumers at roughly pre-pandemic levels. There is also interest in whether the ECB could increase the 1.35 trillion euros figure for the pandemic emergency purchases if needed. Average borrowing costs for big eurozone governments rose during March but have since returned to pre-pandemic levels. The ECB left its other stimulus settings unchanged on Thursday.

FRANKFURT The European Central Bank has boosted its pandemic emergency support program by 600 billion euros to 1.35 trillion euros ($1.5 trillion) in an effort to keep affordable credit flowing to the economy during the steep downturn caused by the virus outbreak. Under the pandemic support program, the ECB buys corporate and government bonds and other financial assets from banks, paying with newly created money. That helps lower longer-term interest rates, keeping the pandemic from drying up needed funding for borrowers. Italy's lockdown will cost it lost tax revenues and additional spending to support the economy. The bank has also set up long-term offers of credit to banks at even lower rates if they show they are lending to companies.

Under the program, the central bank buys government and corporate bonds with newly printed money, a step that helps keep a lid on borrowing costs for businesses and governments. Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank, estimates there is a 60% chance that the central bank will decide to boost its pandemic stimulus program at Thursday's meeting. If it doesn't, he says the central bank could so in July. The ECB could also lengthen the pandemic stimulus program's duration; right now it is slated to run through the end of the year. Lagarde has said the ECB is accountable to the EU parliament and the European Court of Justice, which had approved the purchases.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images(CNN) - Instead of paying interest on deposits, Swiss banks are starting to charge wealthy customers to stash their cash. Credit Suisse said Friday that the bank would apply a negative 0.75% interest rate to balances above 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million). This means that if an individual client or business holds 3 million Swiss francs ($3 million) with the bank for one year, they would be charged a fee of 7,500 Swiss francs ($7,600). For business customers holding more than 10 million francs ($10.1 million), the levy on funds above that mark rises to 0.85%. With no end to negative rates in sight, frustrated Swiss banks are passing some of the pain to their most affluent customers.